


switching sides

by voksen



Series: WKverse [51]
Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-22
Updated: 2009-10-22
Packaged: 2017-10-28 09:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voksen/pseuds/voksen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Nagi came to work for Kritiker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	switching sides

Even though he and Crawford had set the move up well in advance, Nagi had not been looking forward to leaving Schwarz for Kritiker, temporary basis or not. It meant moving back into the world of normals, where people looked at him askance because of what he was, where people whispered _freak_ when they thought they were out of hearing or when they just didn't care.

Schuldig laughed at that kind of thing, he knew. Crawford simply didn't seem to register any of it. Farfarello - well, sometimes he seemed to care, but mostly he didn't. Nagi knew he ought to take their examples, but that was easier said than done; it did bother him, no matter how capable he was of hiding it outwardly.

It didn't help that it seemed that _everyone_ was watching him, waiting for him to make a wrong move or look for secrets to report back to Schwarz or any of Kritiker's many enemies or whatever it was they thought he was there for. For the first few weeks he had had shadows, a couple men following him, holsters unsubtly marring the lines of their poorly-fitting jackets, and he made himself bizarrely, uncomfortably homesick by imagining what Schuldig would have had to say about that.

The only benefit to the whole thing was that he was back in Japan - but the best part of that was nullified, even; with so many eyes on him, he had found no way to contact Tot, let alone visit her.

Even Takatori watched him, though to his credit he was more subtle about it, doing most of it through cameras in the tiny apartment and the dozen or so keyloggers on the computer they had given him.

He didn't play to them like Schuldig would have, but he didn't try to hide what he was, either; he had had more than enough of _that_. So he typed as he normally did, didn't cross rooms to turn switches, went along with the little tests set up to make sure he really was who and what he claimed to be, and volunteered nothing extra.

After a few weeks of boredom, Takatori called him to his office, sent away his secretary (was there something genetic about the Takatoris and their women, Nagi wondered) and faced him alone, across his desk. He looked more serious than Nagi remembered him, dressed in a suit rather than casual wear, his hair grown longer and darker.

"Takatori-san," he said, flatly; there was no point in pretending he wanted to be there. He was no actor, and he knew it well enough.

Takatori stood, his fingers resting lightly on the wide desk. "Persia, please," he said quietly, looking Nagi over again as if he hadn't done enough of that already. As if, Nagi thought, what he could do was written across him.

He nodded slightly, acknowledging the request for the order it was. "Persia." He should perhaps have expected it, seeing as they tried so hard to maintain secrecy.

"I think we both know that you're not really here to defect," Takatori said, his eyes fixed on Nagi's.

Nagi had expected it; Crawford had warned it would come eventually, but Crawford was not here to walk him through the conversation. "That's right," he agreed, wondering in the back of his mind whether or not first solo missions were usually so... crucial.

Takatori let that stand for a moment. "Why _are_ you here?" he asked, eventually, his unexpected bluntness making Nagi blink in surprise.

This was, Nagi decided, one of the situations in which the truth would probably suit his purpose. After all, he _would_ need to have access to the case files, when they came up - and more importantly, he would need to be allowed to help when the time came, though that wouldn't be for a long time yet. For that, he'd need Takatori's... trust, as much as he could get it. (If only Schuldig hadn't made such a mess of that thing with his sister....)

"Oracle foresaw a situation in which it would be beneficial for Kritiker to have my assistance." It felt odd to think and speak of Crawford as _the Oracle_ , but Kritiker seemed to run on code names, and he was, after all, not trying to rock the boat.

"Ah." Takatori shifted some papers across his desk, his eyes still on Nagi. "What kind of assistance?"

 _That_ , he didn't know the particulars of; but Crawford had said that both he and Schuldig would be in Japan and in contact before anything that really mattered happened. "Anything."

"Anything," Takatori echoed, and Nagi wished for just a _hint_ of telepathy or precognition. "That's broad, isn't it?"

"Anything I'm capable of," Nagi clarified, hoping he wouldn't have to try to list every possible application of his abilities.

He didn't have to have any of that wished-for telepathy to guess that Takatori was running through the things he had seen Nagi do, both in the last two weeks and the times they had met before. It had, however, been a very long time since then - and his power had increased greatly.

"Telekinesis," Takatori said slowly, as if he were coming up with a theory, despite the observations and the tests of the last weeks. "You can affect objects with greater or lesser amounts of force at will without physically touching them." He waited for Nagi's confirming nod, then continued. "What about control? Affecting objects in motion?" As Nagi nodded again, his hand dipped below the surface of the desk, then flickered up, tossing a dart.

Nagi had expected that, or something like it, from the question. The warning made it trivial; he stopped the dart with a thought, leaving it hovering between them.

"And multiple things at once?" Takatori asked, glancing to the dart, then back at Nagi.

Raising his hand slightly, he brought the desk up - heavy, he could tell by the heft of it, good, solid wood - to the level of the dart, keeping it steady, then lowered it again, letting the dart go with it. "Are you done?"

Takatori _smiled_ , his serious demeanor falling away. "It is a little like an interview, isn't it?" he asked, "A strange one... though maybe not so strange to you?"

"Maybe not." Pausing, he added, slightly grudgingly, "I have had stranger."

Takatori held out a hand - a nice touch, that, Nagi thought, remembering that he worked for an American; he was better at being a Takatori than he had been at being an assassin. He took it, matching the strength of his grip.

"Instead of more questions, maybe you'd like to work on a few missions?" Takatori wondered aloud.

"It would be efficient," Nagi agreed. It would also be far more interesting and likely give him the chance to get out from under direct watch...

Another big, incongruous smile. "Then I look forward to working with you, Naoe-kun. Prodigy, was it...?"

"If you like." He didn't doubt that he'd be hearing more than enough of the codename, but he had to admit he preferred it to the possibility of Sphynx or Bobtail or, God forbid, _Munchkin._ "And 'Nagi' is fine."

Takatori looked slightly taken aback by that, but he rallied quickly. "Nagi-kun, then." Picking up a folder from the desk, he offered it to him. "It's a little more personal than most assignments are done, but we'll have to work closely together. You'll report to me, as well..."

Nagi took the folder, leafing through it. An assassination, he read, and glanced up, intercepting an appraising look. "All right." It seemed a little ironic, but in the end, it made little difference.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing your work."

It was a dismissal if Nagi had ever heard one. Closing the folder, he slipped it under his arm and left, feeling Takatori's eyes on his back the whole way out.


End file.
